SANTA CLARA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE

 6:45 pm, County Building cafeteria, 70 W. Hedding St. San José

MINUTES FOR Thursday, March 4, 2004

 *************** Refreshments provided by the 24^th AD *****************

1.  CALL TO ORDER : 7:15

2.  ROLL CALL

Absent: Ron Lind, Francine Davis, Bill & Cathy Dias, Jean Cohen, Joe Pandit, Alex Kennett, Larry Carr, Greg Sellers, Dan Kenney, Sylvia Alvarez, Tony Alexander, Susan McKuhen, John Dutra, Joe Simitian, John Laird, Simone Salinas, Liz Figueroa, Anna Eshoo, Mike Honda, Zoe Lofgren, Teresa Daley

Alternate: Brandon Sulser for Anna Song, Bill James for Sally Lieber, Drina Collins for Manny Diaz, Jim Brady for Rebecca Cohn, Sari Wisch for Byron Sher, Mary Edmunds for Beverly Wharton

Excused: Madge Overhouse

3.  IDENTIFICATION OF VISITORS

Duy Vo, Sarah Fields: SJSUCD, Ahmad Chapman: SJSUCD, Sukhdev Singh Bainiwal: American Sikh Democratic Club, Paul Fong: SVAPADC, Pearl Cheng: SVAPADC, Jeremy Nishihara: SVAPADC, Jon Persson, Patricia Daoud: Terry Gregory, John Morris: SB4Kerry, Jenica Mariani: SCUCD, Brandon Douglass: SCUCD, Michelle Lanspa: SCUCD

4.  ADOPTION OF AGENDA

    A reminder: Our bylaws require that new business items be submitted to the E-board before the regular meeting.  Only emergency measures may be submitted at the meeting, and these require a two-thirds majority approval for inclusion.

5.  APPROVAL OF MINUTES    (Minutes are posted on  www.scc-democrats.org)

6. REPORTS FROM OFFICERS AND OTHERS

A.  Executive Board: Hope Cahan

Due to the primaries, the Executive Board did not meet last month.

B.  Chair: Steve Preminger

Congratulations to the Central Committee winners. Please remember that the new Central Committee term begins in January 2005

C.  Vice Chair: Drina Collins

No report

D.  Treasurer: Gap Kim

$82.53 in our account

E.  Secretary:  Hope Cahan

Visitors, please sign the visitor sign in being passed around the room

F.  Community Services & Voter Registration: Jim Brady

Please see Call to Action report

G.  Finance: Jim Thurber

Yield time to Chair of Democratic Dinner- Sari Wisch

Please join us at the Santa Clara County Democratic Party Dinner on Friday, April 30^th. We are going to “take back the White House”. Save the date cards have been mailed out. I want to thank: PDC, Santa Clara County Democratic Club, APA Democratic Club, DAWN, the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, South County Democratic Club, and the UDC for giving me their mailing lists.

Next order of business: 3/10 and 3/11 are the mailing parties to mail out the invitations. We are starting at 9:30 am on both days at the home of Jim and Emy Thurber. I need volunteers.

Would like to thank Anne Mack and Hal & Loretta Riddle for already volunteering. You can also register and pay for the dinner online at www.sccdp.org

H. Candidate Recruitment and Endorsement: Jon Kessler

I.  Campaign Services: Phaedra Ellis Lamkins

J.  Issues: Emy Thurber

K. Political Outreach: Tom Cochran

L. Regional Directors: Steve Preminger for Madge Overhouse

Madge’s cancer treatments went really well and her cancer has virtually disappeared.

The next meeting is in April where the DNC members will be voted on and they will begin to gear up for the campaign season.

M. Democratic National Committee: Chris Stampolis

Chris provided updates on the Boston national convention scheduled for the last week of July, and also discussed building relationships with Nevada and Arizona Democrats to help those states cast their electoral votes for the Democratic nominee (presumed to be Kerry).  Chris also encouraged members who wish to travel to Boston as volunteers to make their travel arrangements as soon as possible.  While delegates to the Convention will have the opportunity to reserve rooms at the state delegation's home hotel, volunteers may have more challenges in finding room space for that busy week.  Plan now, and prepare your "I want to volunteer" letter to be sent to the Convention managers.  Chris also mentioned that the Western Caucus is proposing a gathering in Denver this August.  More info as details are confirmed.

N.  Pro-Choice Coalition:  Claudia Shope

Pleased about the CA Supreme Court decision to make Catholic Charities carry contraceptives coverage for their employees under their health insurance plan.

We are disappointed with the FDA deferring their decision on whether emergency contraception should be available over the counter.

Please note that the email about David Hager being appointed to the FDA Reproductive Drug Committee is an old email. Therefore, we cannot do anything to prevent it, but should become even more determined to oust Bush.

There are $200 scholarships for the March for Women’s lives event. If you would like to apply, please email Pro Choice Coalition Chair Judy Purrington at judypurrington@aol.com or call 408-972-8042. Contact Gayle Miller, Planned Parenthood’s Public Affairs Director, with any questions at 408-297-9255 x17

O.  DTV Report:  Steve Chessin

Democratic Television Producer Steve Chessin reported that our January taping was Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Executive Officer of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council.
 
Our guest in March is State Senator John Vasconcellos.
 
We will be on San Jose AT&T Channel 15A March 11th with the Hon. Dennis Kennedy, March 25th and April 22nd with Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, and April 8th and May 6th with the Hon. John Vasconcellos.
 
We could still use more good Democrats on the crew. No prior video experience is necessary.
 
San Jose Channel 15A, 8:00pm every other Thursday (serves part of Cupertino) (408-918-3200):
2004:
Mar 11 DTV 108 Hon. Dennis Kennedy
Mar 25 DTV 109 Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins
Apr 8 DTV 110 Hon. John Vasconcellos
Apr 22 DTV 109 Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins
May 6 DTV 110 Hon. John Vasconcellos
 

See http://www.sccdp.org/dtv.htm for the full schedule.

P.  CDC Report:  David Wilkes

We have scheduled a statewide teleconference for all Democratic clubs to take place Thursday, March 11, 2004

Scheduled Start Time: 6:45 p.m. Pacific Std Time

Scheduled End Time: 8:10 p.m. Pacific Std Time

Since the service only allows 100 invitations to be circulated at one time, you will not receive a direct invitation. Rather, e-mail has been sent to the list.

Please ensure your clubs are aware of the teleconference meeting. This is a good opportunity for them to touch base prior to the State Board of Directors' meeting.

Please participate in this statewide Democratic clubs' teleconference. If you personally will not be available, please ask one of your club members to participate.

- The first half of the call will be in one-way "presentation mode," but there will be time for questions and answers. The first 100 respondents will be able to participate.

AGENDA

- 1) A review of the CDC affiliation process and delegate allocation process

- 2) How to appoint club representatives to CDC Committees and how your club representatives can participate effectively on Committees to represent your club's priorities

- 3) How to submit timely resolutions for the upcoming CDC Board meeting. Quick overview of how resolutions committee will have a teleconference to review draft resolutions.

- 4) A review of the planned agenda for the upcoming CDC Board meeting

- 5) The importance of regional meetings, and how local clubs & county committees can benefit from regional networking

- 6) Setting goals for club membership and identifying club target areas (depending on interest and jurisdictions)

- 7) There will be time for questions on a caller-by-caller request basis

Thanks for participating! We look forward to your RSVP and to chatting with you March 11.

Jim Clarke, CDC President and Chris Stampolis, CDC Secretary

The next CDC statewide Board meeting will be Sunday, March 28, Monterey Peninsula College 10 a.m., room to be announced

The CDC Central Coast Area will meet Saturday, March 27 at Monterey Peninsula College, the day before the full statewide Board meeting. Info: Steve Cummings 805-644-3286

State CDC Convention on June 11-13, 2004 at the Handlery Hotel & Resort 950 Hotel Circle North San Diego. Reservations at: 619-298-0511 or www.handlery.com

Q. Welfare Reform:  Sal Alvarez

Political outreach clubs and ADs

20th AD committee:

21st AD Committee: Thelma Spaziani

22nd AD Committee:

23rd AD Committee:

24th AD Committee:

27^th AD Committee:

28th AD Committee:

African-American Democratic Coalition: Marylee Shelton

American Sikh Democratic Club: Sukhdev Singh Bainiwal

Asian-Pacific American Democratic Club: Pearl Chang

Clinton*Gore Action Network:

Democratic Action for Women Now (DAWN): Marylee Shelton

Evergreen Democratic Club at the Villages: Mary Edmunds

On Saturday 2/14 and Sun 2/15 we registered 55 voters at Eastridge and Oakridge malls. Thanks to the 12 member volunteers who participated.

During the last week of February, we distributed special election edition of our monthly newsletter to about 900 households in The Villages. Included was an insert from California Peace Action with presidential candidate profiles and an excellent Three Point Platform of their Campaign for a New American Foreign Policy.

Herb Engstrom will speak at our next meeting on March 9^th about “Taking Our Country Back- A Call to Action.”

High Tech Dems: Alyson Abramowitz

High Tech Dems upcoming event will be our annual event on the economy. Please join us on March 15^th at Mings Restaurant, 1700 Embarcadero, Palo Alto for Silicon Valley Reborn: What's In Version 3?

Our featured panel will include: Andrew Kass, Vice President Development, Oracle Corporation, John Chiang, California Board of Equalization, Stefan Roever, CEO Navio Technologies, Jim Anderson, Chief Investment Officer, Silicon Valley Bank. The panel will be moderated by Paul Krutko, Director, and Economic Development City of San Jose. For more information please see http://www.hightechdems.com

Mission City Democratic Club:

Peninsula Democratic Coalition: Genni Gerard

Peninsula Young Democrats: Genni Gerard

Santa Clara County Democratic Club:

Silicon Valley Latino Democratic Forum: Drina Collins

The forum had an annual meeting on Feb. 20^th. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren was the keynote speaker. Continuing with voter registration efforts.

South County Democratic Club:

San Jose State Democratic Club:

Santa Clara University College Democrats: Jenica Mariani

My name is Jenica Mariani and I am from the Santa Clara University College Democrats. We are happy to be here and are excited to become more involved with the local community. Just last week our club had its groundbreaking event where we brought representatives from the Presidential campaigns to have a debate. There was also tabling by Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee, Emerge, and Silicon Valley for Civil Rights as well as the campaigns. There were 125 people in attendance.

We are now looking to get more involved in the Kerry campaign and more active in the party locally.

West Valley Democratic Club:

7. NEW BUSINESS:

South Bay Mobilization March and Rally for Peace on Saturday, March 20^th.

Discussion to endorse this rally:

No motion

Split Roll Initiative Discussion:

This initiative would bring up the tax on business property to the place that prop 13 brought up residential property

Meetups

DNC and CDP have meetups on differing nights. Discussion on how to take advantage of both

Bush protest was well attended. However, protesters were put far away from the door and Bush raised $800,000

8. OLD BUSINESS

A. Call To Action Reports

· Speakers Bureau

Movement to get as many speaking engagements as possible. Special request to the Democratic Clubs to invite the Speakers Bureau to speak to your club.

· Media Committee

Looking for volunteers for the committee. None of the clubs have supplied a media liaison yet. The committee is putting together a media kit and packet for talk radio call in and letter to the editor writing.

· Message Committee

Creating great documents on the hot issues. Need help with budget research. To see the published talking points, please visit our website.

· Volunteer Committee

Staffing the Meetups and looking for volunteers for the Naturalization Ceremony on March 17^th.

9. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ann Mack: at the Democratic dinner we will give out the first annual Madge Overhouse volunteer of the year award. Please take the application form for potential honorees. We will have at least 5 members on the nomination committee. The form will also be on the website.

Phyllis speaking on behalf of the Forum: having their 10^th annual BBQ rally for Senior Concerns on Saturday April 24^th at 655 Vaqueros Ave in Sunnyvale.

Alex Bantis: I am running for my third term as School Board Member for Trustee area 4 in the San Jose Unified district.

David Cohen: Web traffic has been steadily climbing, with a high level this week. Particularly high traffic occurred on Election Day, as people checked out endorsements etc.

New features at the website (sccdp.org) include information on the Democratic Meetup, online democratic dinner registration, and the Madge Overhouse Award nomination form.

Our email list (ba-dems) continues to build up subscribers. If you aren't already a subscriber, please sign up, and encourage your friends to do the same. Also, if you have items you want to appear on the SCCDCC calendar, please email them to me.

Our blog has a new contributor, Elisa Camahort. This week, she has posted a topic about the use of the blog. Please go there and provide your ideas. Starting next week, the blog will have several new thought-provoking entries a week.

Carolyn Curtis: SV4Dean: gave a big pitch at their last meeting for our Unity Meetup on the 24^th. Two of their volunteers are continuing to have voter registration booths at the farmers markets.

Scott Rafferty: deadline for at large delegates (81 openings for Kerry and at large delegates) is coming up. Hardest goal for this state to meet are gay men and lesbians. Need help identifying areas of the state that have not filled their local delegates.

Next refreshments to be provided by the 27^th and 28^th ADs

10. EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

    The next Executive Board will be Tuesday, March 23^rd at the Thurbers

11. ADJOURNMENT In honor of Jeannie Honda

8:45